What does it take to become a captain?

Many people just like you dream of becoming an airline pilot. Few ever make this dream come true. Yet despite the less attractive aspects of a career on the flight deck (unsociable working hours, extended periods away from home, job security etc.), being a pilot is a profession unlike any other. Anyone who has sat in the cockpit of a large airliner in flight knows that an airline pilot’s job is simply ‘a world apart’.

What stands in the way between you and making this ambition a reality? Although it is easy to dream about a career on the flight deck, it is important to be clear about the very real difficulties faced by anyone intending to enterning this career path with a successful outcome.

Becoming a pilot takes perseverance and dedication.

Nothing truly worthwile can be achieved without perseverance. Becoming a pilot is difficult and takes a long time. Learning to become an aviation professional means overcoming difficult hurdles in training and studying for many months – similar to a university degree. To succeed, you must remain focussed and be able to overcome personal setbacks which inevitably occur during training. Some people give up – and their dream remains just that.

How EFT can help:

By becoming a part of EFT, you become part of a training establishment amongst other professionals with the same ambitions. Everyone shares the same passion for flying. By being in a supportive environment with other students and our instructors, it is much easier to persevere through training even in times of stress or high workload – for instance when an important flight test is only days away.
The pleasant surroundings of our USA base provide the perfect environment for recreation and relaxation on your off-duty days and whenever you require it.

High personal standards

Not everybody demands the highest level of professionalism from themselves. Those who are content with mediocrity will not be successful in completing their training – or in finding airline employment upon completion of their training. High personal standards cannot be taught by a training organisation, and those individuals who do not demand the best of themselves will find flight training unrewarding.

How EFT can help:

Whether or not your personal standards are high depends only on yourself. However, if you demand the best of yourself, you are amongst equals when joining EFT’s Airline Pilot Programme™. Our instructors – and APP™ students likewise – work well together because of their shared passions, standards and dedication to flight training. All students and instructors demand, and give, the best of themselves in training and as individuals. We believe that this is not the case at most training organisations.


If you can overcome the difficulties involved in becoming a pilot, EFT’s staff and instructors are there to make your dream come true. Hundreds of active airline pilots have, in the past, benefitted from our instructors’ experience over two decades (many of these pilots were sponsored airline cadets, trained by EFT instructors), and 95% of graduates of EFT’s Airline Pilot Programme™ have found airline employment within six months of leaving EFT. This figure is testimony to the personal standards and committment of our students and instructors likewise, and is unequalled in the training industry.

Team skills

One of the most crucial attributes in a professional airline pilot is his ability to function perfectly as part of a team. Team skills are vital on the flight deck, and are thoroughly assessed by airlines prior to offering employment to flight crew. The prominence of CRM (Crew Resource Management) concepts, which are recognised as crucial in efficient and safe multi-crew flight operations, underlines the importance of smooth teamwork. People lacking good team skills will usually be unsuccessful in applying for an airline job.

How EFT can help:

Whether an individual possesses good team skills is often determined by their past – and airlines regularly look for evidence of good teamwork in applicants. Although a flight training organisation cannot instill these qualities in students, graduates of our APP™ have worked as part of a small team of aviation professionals for over a year – and posess the track record to demonstrate that they have these skills. From an airline’s perspective, this effectively minimises their risk by employing an APP™ graduate.

Becoming a pilot is expensive.

Several years ago, one way of becoming an airline pilot was to apply for an airline sponsorship. Since the events of September 11th, financial hardship has forced all major airlines to discontinue these programmes. Those few airlines still offering such programmes recruit prohibitively few cadets, and usually require them to repay a major part of the training costs – training isn’t free any more. Unlike pilot training, few other careers require an initial investment of tens of thousands of dollars, euros or pounds. Many cadets struggle to raise this money, and have to take large loans or sell their houses in order to make their dream a reality. Financial committment of this extent presents a significant hurdle for many people to making their dream come true.

How EFT can help:

We can help in advising you with regard to loan options, and are approved by the UK Department of Education as an organisation providing personal development. Many of our students finance their training through a personal development loan, with annual interest rates preferable to standard loans. Talk to us to learn more about this option.
EFT’s training rates are significantly lower than those of our major competitors Oxford Aviation, BAE Systems and Lufthansa Flight Training – providing a direct financial benefit to our students. How can we be cheaper? Our cost base is lower, our training more streamlined, our operations more efficient. We don’t have glossy brochures, or a legion of marketeers. All of our investments go into the facilities from which our customers truly benefit: First-class training tools, well-equipped aircraft, and instructors and staff whose experience and professionalism is unrivalled.